


Trust Issues

by reindeergames19



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-04
Updated: 2012-10-08
Packaged: 2017-11-13 12:56:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 21,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/503772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reindeergames19/pseuds/reindeergames19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SHIELD agent, Kate Poole, is assigned to infiltrate Loki's lair by any means necessary, so she poses as a mercenary and joins Loki's army. But can she gain Loki's trust, or will he see through her disguise. Takes place right after Loki takes the Tesseract.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Kate Poole walked quickly down a darkened alley. She still couldn’t believe how she had gotten herself into this mess: putting herself out in the open like this was not her usual style. Kate saw a slight movement in the shadows and jumped. Calm your shit Poole, she whispered under her breath, your a SHIELD agent, not a frightened schoolgirl. She continued her trek down the alley, thinking about how Fury had convinced her to participate in this mission in the first place, until she heard a pair of footsteps behind her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, but kept walking. When the footsteps got nearer, she stopped and turned around only to be faced with two brutish looking men pointing guns right at her chest. She put her hands up and addressed the two thugs with a seemingly innocent smile on her face.  
“Evening gentlemen.” They cocked their guns. “There’s no need for those.” She motioned towards their firearms, but they didn’t move and inch, so she decided to get on with it anyway. “Word around town is that there is a man by the name of Loki who is recruiting people of a questionable nature, have you to heard of anyone by that name?” she paused, and when they didn't respond she added, “You just seem like the kind of men who would posses questionable natures.”  
Finally one of the thugs answered, “Why do you want to know about our master?” the man and his partner took a few steps closer and thats when Kate first noticed the eery blue color of their eyes. Yep, this two were definitely Loki’s.  
“Master, is it?” Kate questioned, “Kinky. I didn’t think Loki was in to that sort if thing, but he is a power hungry lunatic, so it wouldn't surprise me if he was into the whole...” They changed the aims of their guns from her chest to her head and took a step closer. “God, you two have the sense of humor of a box of hair.”  
“Tell us what you want with our master, or we’ll blow your head off.” One thug stated menacingly.   
Kate rolled her eyes, “Very well. I wish to offer my services, how ever humble they may be, to your...master.”  
The two men looked at each other and then back at her, “Very well.” The one on the right said before he swung his gun towards Kate’s head, and then everything went black.

Kate could hear muffled voices, and then the sound of a door opening and closing in short succession. Before she could think about the fact that she could hear but not see, a bag was ripped from her head and she was briefly blinded by the sudden change of light. While her eyes adjusted to the light, she tried to reach up to evaluate the injury on her head, but found that her hands were bound behind her. She struggled against the bonds for a moment until a voice came from the corner of the room.  
“I would not do that if I were you. You will only end up injuring yourself further.” Kate stopped struggling and looked towards where the voice was coming from and was faced with a rather surprising sight: Loki himself. She leaned back in the chair she was tied to and regarded the infamous God of Mischief with an appraising eye. He was dressed in some sort of armor, along with leather pants, boots, and some sort of trench coat thing. Although she hated to admit it, Kate thought he looked rather dashing. While she regarded him, Loki stared intently back at her with a slight smile on his lips.  
“So you’re Loki.” Kate stated plainly.  
“I am he.” He replied, “And who may I ask, are you?” He asked cooly as he took a step closer.  
“The names Poole, Katherine Poole.” she stated confidently. Loki moved closer so that he was standing directly in front of her, then he leaned down and put his face level with hers.  
“My men tell me you wish to join my merry band of mercenaries. Is that true, Katherine?” Kate just stares at him a moment before answering,  
“Please, call me Kate.” The corners of Loki’s mouth twitch with a smile at this statement. “And to answer your question: yes, I would like to join your...group.” Loki places his hands on the arms of the chair in which Kate is sitting and leans forward until his lips are inches away from her ear.  
“Why.” he whispers, his cool breath stirring the hairs at the nape of her neck.”  
“Why what?” Kate replies breathlessly. Though she wouldn't admit it out loud, Loki’s nearness was effecting her in very strange ways, but before she could contemplate that fact any further, Loki straitened and stared down at her.  
“Why do you wish to join my...group?” he questioned.  
“Why did the other men join?” she countered.  
“Because I forced them to.” He held his open hand out to the side, and suddenly a kind of staff with a glowing blue light appeared within his grasp. “With this.” he smiled when he noticed Kate staring at it with a mix of curiosity and horror. “That is what makes your presence here rather curious. You, my dear Kate, are the only one who has volunteered.” He turned the staff and pointed it inches from her heart. “Which makes me wonder if I should trust you, because if not, then I shall have to take precautions to ensure your undying loyalty.”   
Kate stared at the staff in horror. She knew what it was used for, what it could do. Fury had told her all about how Loki had brainwashed both Agent Barton and Dr. Selvig with the same staff that was now inches away from her own heart. She knew if she couldn't make Loki trust her, at least it little bit, that she would end up like both Barton and Selvig: I mindless slave. She slowly raised her blue eyed gaze to meet Loki’s piercing green one. Let the ass kissing begin, she thought wryly.  
“You don’t need that with me, sir.” She looked down at the staff and then back up at him. “Trust me.”  
“And why should I trust you?” he questioned bitterly.  
“Because I, like you, have no love for SHIELD and all that they stand for.” Loki raised his eyebrows at this statement.  
“Explain.” He stated, and to Kate’s relief moved the staff away from her chest.  
“Fury and his agents have stuck their noses into my business one to many times. After a while it wears on ones nerves, along with the fact that it makes doing my job extremely challenging.”   
“And what job is that?” Loki questions.  
“I kill people.” It wasn’t necessarily a lie. Kate did kill people, but just the bad ones, and only when necessary.  
“An assassin.” Loki stated with a smirk.  
“I prefer the term ‘solider of fortune’” she replied  
Loki regarded her for a moment before speaking. “Welcome to my army.” Kate breathed a slight sigh of relief, but was cut short when Loki added, “But be warned my dear Kate, if I get one whiff of disloyalty from you, I will make you pay...painfully.”   
They stared at each other for a moment before Kate replied, “Understood, sir.”  
“Good.” Loki smiled menacingly. “Now, for your first job in my service.” He walked behind her and cut the ropes binding her wrists. “You will accompany me on a little trip.”  
“Where to, sir?” Kate asked as she stood and rubbed her chaffed wrists. Loki turned to face her before replying,  
“Germany.”


	2. Chapter 2

The jet ride to Stuttgart was rather uneventful compared to the previous few hours. Kate sat by herself towards the back of the highjacked SHIELD jet and minded her own business as Loki silently brooded by himself towards the front of the jet. After about an hour of silence, Kate finally gave into her curiosity and broke the silence.  
“So...Why Stuttgart?” Loki lifted his gaze towards her but didn’t respond, so she decided to continue. “Do you have a sudden craving for bratwurst and sauerkraut, or is there an actual method behind your...madness?”   
Loki smiled before replying softly, “I am attending a party.”  
“Huh.” Kate crossed her arms across her chest, “You don’t seem like the partying type.”  
“We will not stay long, I need only retrieve something and we will leave.” Kate nodded slightly at this until she processed what he had said.  
“Wait.” She held up hands, “Did you say ‘we?’”  
“Yes.” Loki nodded slightly. “You will be attending with me as my, what is the term you Midgardians use, oh yes, ‘date.’” He stared at her, waiting to gauge her reaction.  
“Well, this should be fun.” She finally stated.  
“Quite.” He replied.

Once they landed in Stuttgart, there was a car waiting to drive them to an opulent hotel downtown, where they were supposedly going to “prepare” for the evening. When they entered the hotel suite, there were two garment bags awaiting them. Loki took one and motioned for Kate to take the other. She did so, and unzipped the bag skeptically. Her eyes widened in shock.  
“No can do, boss.” She held up the beautiful emerald colored evening gown and addressed Loki, who was already making his way to the bedroom to change.   
“Is there a problem.” Loki regarded her with a mix of curiosity and suppressed rage.  
“I don’t do dresses, especially floor length ball gowns.”   
“You will ‘do’ what I tell you Miss Poole.” He took a menacing step towards her, his green eyes flashing. “Now put on the dress before I decide to put it on you myself which, I assure you, I would thoroughly enjoy.”  
Kate regarded Loki warily, rather annoyed with herself for actually contemplating what it would be like if Loki decided to carry out his threat to dress her. She hugged the dress to her chest and started backing up towards the other bedroom to change.  
“Pity.” Loki murmured. “I would have very much enjoyed helping you dress.” His gaze ran leisurely up and down her body with appreciation before her turned and strode into his room to change. Kate thought about the look Loki had just given her with confusion. Could he possibly be interested in her beyond a professional capacity? Although she wouldn’t admit it to anyone, Loki excited her in ways that a bad guy like him shouldn’t. Kate contemplated this as she made her way into her room, closed the door, and pulled her phone out of her bra. She sent a quick text to Agent Coulson informing him of their current location and hoping that they would get to Germany before Loki did something drastic. After she sent the text, Kate proceeded to change out of her jeans and jacket, and into the green dress. She was just about to reach behind and zip the dress up, when she felt her hands being brushed away and replaced by larger, cooler ones. She looked up and into the mirror to see Loki standing behind her zipping her dress up, his head bent towards hers.  
“You look ravishing.” He said softly as he finished zipping her up and rested his hands lightly on her bare shoulders. Kate turned to face him and was about to reply to his comment when she noticed what Loki was wearing. The designer suit he had donned fit his lean body like a glove, it’s dark color complemented Loki’s dark hair and light complexion perfectly. Around his neck he wore some sort of checkered green scarf that was almost the exact shade of Kate’s dress.   
“You clean up nice, boss.” Was all Kate could manage to say.  
“As do you, Miss Poole.” He smiled. “That color suits you.” Kate looked down her dress, as if noticing it for the first time. “Now, we should be on our way. I should hate to be late.”

Loki helped Kate out of the black Mercedes that had delivered them to the so called “party”. He offered her his arm, which she took, and then proceeded to lead her into the beautiful columned building. They made their way up a flight of stairs that led to the second floor, which overlooked the grand ballroom in which the party was being held. Loki directed them towards another flight of stairs that led down to the party below, his staff, which he had transformed into a sort of glowing cane, tapping the marble floors as they walked. When they reached the marble staircase, Loki turned to Kate, lifted her hand to his lips, and whispered,  
“This will only take but a moment, my dear.” He then turned away from her and made his way down the steps and towards a man who was apparently giving a toast in the middle of the crowd. When a man in a black suit tried to stop him, Loki promptly used his cane as a club and knocked him out cold, and then made his way to his supposed target. Kate watched in horror as he grabbed the man by his collar and dragged him across the floor and flipped him onto the stone table in the center of the ballroom. He then pulled some sort of device out of his coat pocket and placed it on the poor man’s eye, who then started screaming his head off. Although Kate couldn’t see Loki’s face, she would bet a months pay that he had that twisted smile on his face.  
“That guy really knows how to make an entrance.” Kate muttered as she pulled out her phone, not caring if Loki noticed, and called Coulson.  
“Coulson.” he answered.  
“You guys better be close, cause Loki’s creating one hell of a shit storm right now.” Kate mumbled as she kicked off her heels and started running down the stairs towards Loki.  
“Captain Rogers and Agent Romonoff are almost there, try to stall him.” Coulson replied.  
“Stall him!” she responded, exasperated. “Contrary to popular belief Coulson, I’m only human! This guys a freakin’ god for christ’s sake!”  
“You’ll think of something.” He stated calmly before hanging up.  
“Asshole.” Kate swore as she tried to push her way through all the fleeing people, but before she could make it to Loki, he had left his victim lying limp on the table as he walked calmly towards the exit, his battle armor glimmering into place along with a massive horned helmet. He made his way outside and proceeded to order all of the civilians in the area to kneel before him. Kate watched from the distance in horror, feeling helpless without even a gun to aid her in protecting not only herself, but all the innocent people that Loki was traumatizing. But thankfully before he could wreak any more havoc, reinforcements finally arrived in the form of Captain America and the Black Widow.   
Kate breathed a sigh of semi relief as she watched Captain America fend off Loki, but the relief was short lived when she realized that the Captain was no match for the God of Mischief. She ran towards the fight, intending to join in just as the Captain’s gun was kicked out of his hand by Loki, and towards her. She ran towards it, picked it up and fired about three shots at Loki’s head. Although the bullets didn’t even faze him, he looked around for the other threat, and when he spotted her with the gun in her hands, his eyes grew dark and he let out a yell of rage as he charged towards her.  
“You lying little whore!” he screamed at her. “I swear I will make you pay for your betrayal!” He pointed his staff directly at her heart, but before he could fire it a red and gold blur came out of no where and knocked Loki to the ground. Before he could recover, the man in the metal suit landed and trained all his weapons Loki. So, this must be Stark, Kate thought as she took a deep breath in order to calm her nerves.  
“Make a move, reindeer games.” Loki’s armor disappeared, along with his staff. “Good move.” Captain Rogers came up next to Stark, and stared down at Loki.  
“Mr. Stark.” He muttered.  
“Captain.” Stark replied before leaning down to grab Loki’s arm and haul him to his feet, he then turned to Kate who was standing a few feet away, Captain Rogers’ gun still clutched in her hand. “And you must be the little undercover agent Coulson told me about, Agent...”  
“Poole, sir, Katherine Poole.” She could have sworn she heard Loki laugh before Stark started dragging him towards the SHIELD jet that was waiting for them. This is going to be a long flight, Kate groaned inwardly.


	3. Chapter 3

If looks could kill, Kate would have been slain many times over by Loki’s icy glare. Since they had first gotten on the jet, he hadn’t taken his eyes off of her. He didn’t say a word, he hardly blinked, and it was really starting to creep Kate out. She tried to avert her gaze and ignore him, but she could feel his gaze boring into her. She could hear Loki’s voice repeating over and over in her mind I swear I will make you pay for your betrayal. Usually she wouldn’t let a threat like that phase her, but something told her that a threat from a Norse god, especially the seriously deranged God of Mischief, shouldn’t be taken lightly. Her brain was conjuring up ways in which Loki would make her “pay,” when Tony Stark thankfully interrupted her morbid imaginings.  
“So, Coulson tells me your one of SHIELD’S top agents.”   
“I’m sure Agent Coulson was exaggerating.” Kate responded. “I’m no better or worse than any of my fellow agents.”  
“Come now, don’t be so modest!” Tony smacked her on the back playfully. “Not just anyone could infiltrate a crack-job like Loki’s lair and still live to tell the tale.”  
“Mr. Stark is right, Miss Poole.” Captain Rogers interjected. “What you did was extremely brave.”  
“Thanks for the support, Gramps.” Stark muttered before turning his attention back to Kate. “Nice dress by the way.” He motioned to the ridiculously extravagant gown that she was still dressed in and smiled seductively as he moved closer to her. “Although I would prefer if it were red instead of green, then we would be matching.” Stark wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner as Kate stared back at the multi-billionaire with a confused look on her face.  
“Leave her be, Stark.” Natasha Romanoff chastised from the cockpit. “I think she’s been through enough trouble for one day.” Kate smiled and nodded in appreciation at Agent Romanoff, who winked back at her conspiratorially.  
“You can’t say I didn’t try.” Stark said as he crossed his arms and turned his focus on Loki again. “Not very talkative, is he.” Loki glared back at Stark before once again returning his cold gaze to Kate. Tony opened his mouth to make another snide comment, but was cut off when a burst of bright white light filled the jet, followed by the loud boom of thunder. Loki leaned forward in his seat and looked up towards the sky as Agent Romanoff turned to look at him curiously.  
“What’s the matter?” she asked. “Afraid of a little lightning?” Loki’s gaze moved from the window and passed briefly over Kate before falling on the Black Widow in the cockpit.  
“I’m not overly fond of what follows.” Before either Kate or Agent Romanoff could respond to that strange comment, there was a loud thud on the roof of the jet. Tony cursed under his breath as he put his helmet back on, and Captain Rogers pulled his shield onto his arm and went into a battle stance. The door of the jet opened, and a large man with a red cape jumped from the roof to the ramp. Tony advanced on him, but before he could even throw a punch, the stranger in the cape lifted what looked to be a hammer in his hands, and smashed it against Starks chest, sending him flying too the front of the jet and onto his ass. Everyone on the jet watched in frozen fascination as the stranger approached Loki, ripped him from his seat and led him to the open jet door. He then started swinging the massive hammer he held in circles and somehow took flight. Everyone on the jet stared after them in amazement before Agent Romanoff broke the silence.  
“Another Asgardian?” No one responded, but Tony made his way to the door of the jet, the blue lights on his hands getting brighter in preparation for flight.  
“Stark!” Captain Rogers shouted after him. “We need a plan of attack!”  
“I have a plan.” Tony replied as her looked over his shoulder. “Attack.” He then flew out the back out the plane in pursuit of Loki and the mystery cape wearer. Captain Rogers looked around helplessly until he spotted a parachute in the rack above Kate’s head. He made his way over towards her, and she quickly moved out of his determined path. As he was pulling on the chute, Agent Romanoff tried to convince him to rethink what he was about to do.  
“I would sit this one out Cap.” She said, turning in her seat to face the Captain. “These guys are straight from legend, they’re basically gods.”  
“There’s only one God, ma’am.” he stated as he made his way to the open door. “And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.” He then jumped out of the plane without another word. There was a brief moment of silence before Kate took a deep breath and said.  
“Well, that was...the weirdest thing thats ever happened to me.” She looked over at her long time friend Natasha Romanoff, and they both burst out laughing. “Well Nat, we might as well land and go straighten out this shit storm before Fury finds out and draws and quarters us.”   
“Sounds like a plan.” Natasha said as she started to turn back to the control panels, but stopped and looked at Kate again, concern in her eyes. “Are you sure you’re alright Kate? You seemed a little shaken up back in Stuttgart, I’ve never seen you like that before.”  
“Of course I’m okay. Don’t worry about me.” Kate smiled and responded with as much conviction as she could manage, still trying to repress the memory of how helpless she felt back in Germany. “Now what are we going to do about those stupid, impulsive superhero’s who just jumped out of the jet?”  
“It looks like we’re gonna have to clean up after them...yet again.” Natasha rolled her eyes and in a rare show of humor responded, “Men. You can’t live with them, and you can’t shoot them.”  
“Well, you could.” Kate said with mock seriousness. “But all the men we want to shoot just happen to be bullet proof.” Both agents laughed as the jet prepared to land.

 

Before leaving the jet, both Kate and Natasha armed themselves to the teeth in preparation for a fight. They were just walking down the ramp of the jet, when Kate again took notice of her attire and stopped with a curse.  
“Shit. I’m still wearing this flipping dress!” She said as she ruffled the skirts in irritation.   
“Here.” Natasha said, handing Kate one of her knives. Kate took if thankfully and then proceeded to cut about a foot and a half off the bottom the dress, freeing her legs. She sighed in relief as she strapped a gun to one thigh and a knife to the other.  
“Much better.” Kate sighed as she handed the knife back to Natasha. “Why don’t we split up. You take the forest and I’ll take those rocks up there.” She motioned towards the craggy cliffs that rose toward the night sky. Natasha nodded in agreement before they went their separate ways. Kate made her way up a rough trail that led up the cliffs, pulling her gun from it’s holster as she went. She walked for about ten minutes without a sign of anyone, until she saw a dark shape in the distance, sitting on the edge of one of the many cliffs. She approached the shape soundlessly, her gun at the ready, and when she got close enough she realized it was Loki. She stopped in her tracks, her nerves momentarily getting the better of her. Loki still hadn’t noticed her yet, so she steeled her nerves and continued to approach. When she was about ten feet away, Loki finally acknowledged her presence, evidenced by the sound of a deep chuckle.  
“Have you come to retrieve me, Agent Poole.” He turned his head slightly to glance in her direction.  
“Yes.” She replied. “And if you come without a fuss, I promise I won’t shoot you.” She took a few steps closer as she reached up to activate the communication device in her ear, her eyes never leaving Loki. “Nat, I’ve got Loki. Do you copy?” A few seconds passed before there was a response.”  
“Copy. I’m on my way.” Natasha replied succinctly.  
“Get up Loki, we’re leaving.” Kate reached down to grab Loki’s arm, but her hand met air. “What the--” She took an involuntary step back and met with a hard surface. She stiffened, filling with dread as she slowly turned around. Loki was standing there, staring down at her with a slight smile playing on his lips.  
“Hello, Kate.” He said, before grabbing her around the neck and slamming her against the rock wall behind them. “Now,” he leaned toward her, placing his cool lips against her ear, “I will make you pay.”


	4. Chapter 4

Now, I will make you pay.  
Kate’s eyes widened in fear as Loki whispered in her ear. An involuntary shudder wracked her body as Loki moved closer, pressing his chest and hips hard against her, effectively immobilizing her. She tried to reach down to grab the knife strapped to her thigh, but Loki caught her wrist in his brutal grip, forcing her to drop the knife in the dust at their feet. He then grabbed both her wrists in one hand and pinned them above her head, his free hand moving to rest on her bare thigh. He ran his hand leisurely up her leg, over her hip and finally settled it on her waist before whispering in her ear again.  
“How does it feel, my dear Kate?” His hand moved up slowly to cup her breast, his fingers tracing the skin that showed above the green silk of her ruined dress. “How does it feel to be completely helpless and at my mercy?” Kate closed her eyes and took a deep breath before responding.  
“Who says I’m helpless?” She moved her head to stare up at him defiantly.  
“Oh, I assure you,” Loki reached down, wrapped his hands around her thighs, and forced her legs to encircle his hips, effectively bringing their bodies even closer together. “you are quite helpless.” Loki laughed at Kate’s surprised expression before he continued “Now, what should your punishment be I wonder? I should kill you here and now for your betrayal, but there is something about you that interests me.” He reached up to rub his thumb across her bottom lip. “I think I shall have a little fun with you before I exact my revenge.” Before Kate could respond, Loki buried his fingers in her hair and brought his lips down hard onto hers in a bruising kiss, pushing her farther up the rock wall behind her. Kate’s eyes widened in surprise before she started to struggle against the immovable barrier of Loki’s body, her fingers gripped the green and black leather of his coat as she tried to force him away from her. But after a few moments of futile struggling, her resolution wavered as her eyelids began to droop and her hands loosened their hold on his coat before sliding up to rest on his broad shoulders as she gave in to his kiss. Her head swam with all the emotions that were going through her. Feelings of hatred, frustration, helplessness, and most disturbingly, lust, overtook her mind as she clung to the God of Mischief as if he were some sort of lifeline. Loki smiled against her lips at her enthusiasm before he leaned back to look down at her, a mocking glint in his green eyes.  
“I knew from the moment I first laid eyes on you that you were a passionate woman.”  
He slowly untangled his fingers from her hair and moved them to the now shortened hem of her gown, which he began to lift higher and higher up her legs until her lower body was exposed to the cool night air. “One who would be unable to resist the allure of a god like me.” As he spoke, he slowly traced his fingers up the sensitive skin of her inner thighs until he reached the silken barrier of her panties. Before he could go any further though, Kate finally snapped out of her passion-filled trance and renewed her struggle against him.  
“Let me go you insane bastard!” She yelled as she unwrapped her legs from around his hips and began kicking him in the shins. “Let me go or I swear rip your heart out!”   
Loki laughed at her threats and her struggling.   
“Who said I had a heart, my dear?” He leaned forward and nuzzled her neck. “Now be a good little mortal and kiss your king.” When she didn’t stop struggling, Loki finally lost his patience. “Enough!” He shouted as he grabbed her by the neck and slammed Kate hard against the side of the cliff, knocking the wind out of her. “Cease your useless struggles before I snap your neck like a twig, you deceitful little slut!” Kate gasped for breath and tried to pry Loki’s hands from her throat as he tightened his grip around it. Her vision darkened and her ears rang from the lack of oxygen as her fingers grew weak and feel limply to her sides. She felt the darkness surrounding her, but before it could completely take her, she heard the cocking of a gun to their left and the sound of Natasha’s voice.  
“Let her go, Loki.” Loki tore his gaze from Kate to glare at Natasha, before finally removing his hands from Kate’s neck. She fell to the ground, gasping for breath, barley aware of the sound of the familiar male voices joining the group. She then felt Natasha at her side, helping her up and wrapping a supportive arm around her shoulders. She looked to her right and saw Loki being led back to the jet by both the mystery man in the red cape and Tony Stark. Loki turned his head over his shoulder to glare daggers at Kate.  
“This is far from over, Kate.” He threatened before they disappeared down the rocky path. Kate shuddered.  
“Jesus Christ, Kate!” Natasha turned to stare at her. “What the hell happened?” Kate’s throat was still too sore to talk to she just shook her head slowly. Plus, she was still wondering the same thing her self. Kate was still extremely confused, and ashamed, about what had happened between her and Loki. His affect on her was both surprising and disturbing to say the least. Natasha opened her mouth to speak, probably to force a more specific answer from Kate, but before she could, Captain Rogers approached them and offered to help Kate back to the jet. Before she could say that she was fine to walk by herself, the always chivalrous Captain America swept her into his arms and made his way down the path and back to the jet. Kate looked over the Captain’s shoulder at Natasha who was following closely behind and rolled her eyes. Although she wouldn’t admit it, Kate was frightened. If SHEILD thought they could keep a man like Loki locked up, they were sadly mistaken. And when Loki finally did escape, which he would, he would be coming for her.


	5. Chapter 5

The remainder of the jet ride was thankfully uneventful. Kate was finally introduced to the mystery man in the red cape who claimed to be Loki’s brother, Thor. Although Kate wasn’t one to doubt the word of an Asgardian god, she had a hard time believing the two were related since they looked nothing alike. When they finally landed on the Helicarrier, Kate was never happier to be off of a plane, and away from a certain green eyed god, in her life. Her relief was short lived though, for the moment she stepped off the jet, Coulson was there waiting for her.  
“Director Fury wishes to speak with you.” He stated simply, his expression unreadable behind his sunglasses.  
“Does he now?” Kate muttered. “Can I at least go and change first?” She asked as she motioned to her tattered dress, but Coulson just stared at her without speaking. “I’ll take that as a no.” Kate sighed, dreading the coming confrontation with her one-eyed boss. Her assignment was to become close to Loki and to gain his trust until they could figure out exactly what he was planning, but she ruined all of that the moment she blew her cover in Stuttgart. Fury was probably pissed, and Kate mentally prepared her self for the major ass chewing she was about to be subjected to.  
“If you’ll follow me, Agent Poole, I will take you to him.” He turned his back on her and made his way off the runway. Kate turned to follow him, but stopped short when she saw a half dozen heavily armed men make a formation around Loki before leading him right past her and Agent Coulson who had stopped to wait for her. Loki smiled smugly as he passed her, a definite swagger in his long stride. Kate tried to meet his cold gaze, but averted her eyes after only a few seconds. She swore she heard Loki laugh under his breath. Kate seethed inwardly. Was she the only one who could tell that Loki was playing them like his own personal piano. The only reason he was still in SHIELD’S custody was because he chose to be. He was up to something. Kate could feel it in her bones.

Agent Coulson led Kate to the bridge of the Helicarrier were Fury was waiting to “speak” with her, but once they reached the bridge Coulson turned and left without a word, leaving Kate semi-alone with Fury on the upper platform of the bridge. Below them, dozens of fellow agents went about their tasks, completely oblivious to Kate and the Director. Fury, dressed in his signature black-on-black outfit, was standing behind an array of touch screen control panels, his back turned toward her. Kate squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and was about to speak when the Director cut her off.  
“What are you doing here, Poole?” He questioned. Kate stared at his back in confusion.  
“Coulson said you wished to speak-” But he cut her off again before she could finish.  
“I mean,” He said as he turned around quickly, his black leather trench coat swirling around his ankles. “what are you doing back here on the Helicarrier when your assignment was to gain Loki’s trust and remain in his confidence.” Kate placed her hands behind her back and stood up straighter before Fury continued with his lecture. “Just because he is contained now, does not mean his men aren’t still following his orders. If you couldn’t stay with Loki, you should have remained in Stuttgart with the rest of his so called army and kept us informed on their activity.”  
“I know, sir.” She said quietly, dropping her gaze to her feet before again raising it to meet Fury’s. “I know that I should not have blown my cover like I did, but when I saw Loki terrorizing all of those people I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing!”  
“You could and you should have, Poole. Now you’ve jeopardized this whole mission with your over abundant compassion.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her disapprovingly.   
“I’m sorry, sir. I give you my word it won’t happen again.” She stated, trying to hide the slight contempt from her voice. In her defense, she was trying to protect innocent people, but apparently foiling the plans of the God of Mischief was more important than a few human lives. Fury didn’t say anything more, so Kate took it as the end of the conversation and turned to leave, but was stopped just short of the door by Fury’s voice.  
“Agent Poole.” Kate turned to look at him. “I know this mission was extremely dangerous and put you at extreme risk, and I know that under different circumstances you would have carried the assignment out until the end. You are one of my best agents, and if you wish to remain so, do not fail me again.” He stared at her intently for a moment before adding. “Now go get changed and meet back here in ten minutes.”  
“Yes, sir.” She nodded in understanding. Fury dismissed her with a nod and she turned without another word and left the bridge.

 

Ten minutes later, Kate was back on the bridge dressed in her SHIELD uniform. She looked around at the other’s who were sitting at the large conference table and moved to sit next to Natasha at the opposite end of the table as Captain Rogers and a man in a purple shirt she wasn’t familiar with. Thor opted to stand instead of sit as he stared broodingly into the distance. Everyone was strangely silent, as if they were waiting for something to happen. Kate couldn’t stand it and finally broke the silence with a question that was probably on all of their minds.  
“Where’s Fury?” But before anyone had a chance to speak, multiple viewing screens popped up on the large conference table in front of them. Kate leaned forward to get a better look at what was happening in what seemed to be some sort of surveillance video, her eyes widening at what she saw. Loki was contained in a large glass-like cage and was standing quietly with his hands behind his back as Fury entered the room and made his way to a control panel by the door of the glass cage.  
“In case it’s unclear,” Fury said as he approached the control panel, “you try to escape,” he began pressing a sequence of buttons on the control panel, “you so much as scratch that glass--” he pressed one last button with a flourish, and the floor beneath Loki’s cage opened, revealing the wide expanse of air beneath the Helicarrier. “Thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?” He turned to motion towards Loki. “Ant.” Then he turned to motion towards the control panel. “Boot.” Loki smiled at Fury’s metaphor and Kate couldn't help but to think it was some sort of a twisted inside joke between her boss and the god.  
“It’s an impressive cage.” Loki smiled as he spread his arms out. “Not built, I think, for me.”  
“Built for something a lot stronger than you.” Fury responded.  
“Oh, I’ve heard.” Loki turned to look straight at the camera, and subsequently at all of them. “A mindless beast. Makes play he’s still a man.” The man in the purple shirt Kate didn’t recognize shifted uncomfortably. Kate frowned at him in confusion as Loki turned to face Fury again. “How desperate are you? You call on such lost creatures to defend you.”  
“How desperate am I?” Fury approached the cage. “You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can’t hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill cause it’s fun.” He stopped inches away from the wall of the cage. “You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”  
“Ooh. I burns you to have come so close.” Loki took a few steps back towards the middle of the cage. “To have the Tesseract. To have power. Unlimited power--and for what?” He turned toward the camera again. “A warm light for all mankind to share?” He turned to glare at Fury again. “And then to be reminded what real power is.” Loki and Fury stared at each other for a moment, almost as if they were judging each others strengths and weaknesses. Kate could practically feel the tension between the two of them. Then Fury broke the silence.  
“Well, let me know if “real power” wants a magazine or something.” Fury made his way out of the room, his coat swirling around his ankles, as Loki stared back up at the camera and smiled. Kate couldn’t help but think that he was staring at her, but before she could think any more of it, the screen in front of her went black.  
“He really grows on you, doesn’t he?” The man in the purple shirt said, making Kate chuckle.  
“You have no idea.” She muttered. “Well.” Kate stood up quickly and pushed her chair back. “I’m gonna go get a couple hours of shut eye before “real power” decides to make his next move.” She made her way off the bridge and down the hall to her quarters where she promptly plopped face down on her narrow bed and passed out.

Kate was sleeping soundly when she suddenly felt a hand skimming up her side to rest on the curve of her waist. Kate squirmed and rolled over onto her back, thinking that the feeling of the hand was just her imagination. She was drifting off again when she felt the zipper of her uniform slowly being pulled down to her navel. Her eyes shot open and she saw Loki above her. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She panicked and tried to get off the bed, but he quickly straddled her and caught her wrists above her head in one of his large hands.  
“Shh.” He leaned down and lightly nibbled and kissed a trail from her collarbone, up her neck, and to her ear. “Just relax, my lovely little traitor.” He returned to kissing her neck for a moment before speaking again. “I won’t hurt you...yet.” He reached down to continue unzipping her uniform, then her pulled it apart to reveal Kate’s scant black underwear. She renewed her struggle against him, bucking her hips against him, trying to dislodge him from on top of her. Loki just smiled and pressed his body closer to her. Kate could feel his arousal against her stomach and could not help put to be somewhat impressed by it’s obvious size. Loki laughed at her surprised expression and began to run his free hand over her stomach and up to grasp her one of her breasts which were spilling from her bra. His mouth followed his hands, feathering kisses across her breasts as he began to lightly rock his hips against her. He moved her bra aside to expose her breasts completely before he took one of her already hardened nipples into his mouth. Kate couldn’t repress the moan that followed and she could feel Loki smiling against her at her response.  
“Do you like this, Kate?” Loki lifted his head to stare at her.  
“Yes.” Kate reluctantly whispered. Loki smirked.  
“Of course you do.” He leaned forward and took her mouth in a passionate kiss that left Kate breathless before pulling away abruptly, a wicked smile still playing on his lips. “To bad it’s only a dream.”  
Kate sat straight up in bed with a start. She looked around her room, but she was alone. She looked down at her uniform which was completely zipped and undisturbed. She took a few deep breaths as she closed her eyes.  
“It was just a dream.” She muttered to herself as she dropped her head into her hands, the sensual scene replaying over and over in her mind. She slowly lifted her head from her hands, a dark scowl on her face. “That’s it. I’m gonna kill the bastard!”


	6. Chapter 6

Kate stormed down one of the brightly lit hallways of the Helicarrier, her determined stride eating up the metal floor and the look on her face drawing the attention of everyone she passed. But Kate didn’t notice or stop to acknowledge any of them for she was too intent on her destination to care. Kate practically seethed with anger whenever she thought of the green eyed God of Mischief, and she thought about him many times during her trek through the Helicarrier. The threats and the physical attacks she could almost deal with, but when Loki invaded her dreams and played with her mind, Kate lost it. That was the icing on the cake, the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Now it was payback time. Kate was devising ways in which to exact her revenge, when she heard a familiar deep voice call her name. She groaned inwardly and rolled her eyes in frustration before turning around to face the source of the stern voice.  
“Director Fury.” She straightened her posture and put her hands behind her back. “I was just on my way to take care of something.”  
“Really?” He approached her. “It looked to me like you were marching into battle, Agent Poole.” Kate suppressed a crazed giggle as she thought to herself, you have no idea.  
“Do you need something, Director?” She asked, hoping he’d reply negatively, so that she could continue on her “quest.”  
“As a matter of fact, I do.” He replied. “Follow me, Poole.” He immediately turned on his heel and made his was in the opposite direction of Kate’s destination. Kate reluctantly followed. He led her to a small conference room and closed the door behind them, and without any pretense, stated what he wanted of her.  
“I want you to interrogate the prisoner.” Kate stared at him, dumbstruck and speechless. “Is that a problem, Poole?”  
“No, sir.” She replied quickly. “Why would it be?”  
“Well, your history with the prisoner isn’t exactly a bright one.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I was told that he threatened you, both verbally and physically.”  
“Who told--” Kate paused to think about it. “Natasha.” She hissed under her breath.  
“Don’t hold it against her.” Fury shrugged. “Agent Romanoff was just doing her job by telling me.” He unfolded his arms and placed his hands on the table in front of him and leaned forward. “Now, back to the matter at hand. I want you to question Loki and see what kind of intel you can worm out of him.”  
“And what makes you think he’ll tell me anything?”  
“I think that perhaps you underestimate your...charms, Agent Poole.” He turned around and made his way for the door, but stopped right before reaching it and turned back to face Kate. “You have my permission to use any means necessary to get the information out of our guest--within reason.  
“Yes, sir.” Fury nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Kate alone. She smiled to herself as she muttered.  
“By any means necessary. I can do that.”

Kate stood outside the door of the room in which Loki’s cell was located. She took a deep breath before scaning her access card and walking through the door and into the vault like room. She spotted Loki instantly, standing in his cell with his back to her. She approached the glass cell and cleared her throat.  
“Well, if it isn’t my dearest Katie.” He turned his body around to face her, crossing his arms behind his back as he did so. His green eyes ran up and down her body, a hungry glint glowing in their depths as he took in her standard issue, skin tight SHIELD uniform. “My, but don’t you look ravishing. Although I much prefer you in a gown, I must say you look positively good enough to eat in that outfit.” He approached the glass wall of the cell. “I can just imagine unzipping that suit and--”  
“Are you quite finished.” Kate crossed her arms as she cut him off.  
“My, my. Someone is a bit touchy.” Loki turned around and walked slowly back to the bunk on the other side of the cell and sat down with a flourish. “What could possibly be the matter, my darling?” He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. “Trouble sleeping perhaps?”  
“Funny you should ask.” Kate murmured between clenched teeth. Loki just smiled and changed the subject.  
“So what brings you here to my present abode, Agent Poole?” He questioned, putting unnecessary emphasis on the “agent” part. “Business or pleasure?”  
“A little bit of both actually.” She replied.  
“Is that so? How...intriguing.” He leaned back a little, making himself more comfortable. “Please, do go on.” Kate took a deep breath as she tried to control her temper. The last thing she wanted was to make Loki think that he affected her the way he did.  
“My business, if you must know, is to interrogate you, using any means necessary I might add. And it would give me great amounts of pleasure in beating the living shit out of you.” She stated calmly, though her words betrayed her current feelings.  
“Why, whatever for?” Loki placed a slender hand over his heart in mock offense.  
“Don’t pretended like you don’t know what I’m talking about, Loki.” Kate pointed an accusing finger at him as she continued. “Not only did you almost kill me, but my boss was about ready to do the same thing because of you! Not to mention that stunt you pulled last night which was the last frigging straw!” Kate stared at him through the glass, her eyes like daggers.  
“To what stunt are you referring, my dear? I believe there have have been many in the last twenty four hours or so.” Kate seethed, but managed to keep her voice level when she responded.  
“I’m talking about that disgusting dream you put in my head.” Loki just shrugged his shoulders and smiled.  
“You made your bed when you betrayed me, my dear.” He stood up from the bunk and approached the wall of the cell again with slow, calculated strides. “Now I’m only making you lay in it--as it were.” He placed a slender hand under his chin and stroked it thoughtfully. “What is it you mortals say? ‘payback is a bitch?’”  
“You sure do have some interesting ideas about revenge you twisted bastard.”  
“You have now idea.” Loki stated as he laughed softly.  
“Mind giving me an idea maybe?” Kate questioned.  
“Let’s just say,” he paused dramatically, before he turned his piercing gaze on her, a feral smile playing on his lips, “I enjoy playing with my food before I devour it.” Kate mentally shuddered at this comment.  
“So your going to eat me?” She questioned, trying to act nonchalant, but failing miserably.  
“Something like that.” He murmured before turning his back on her in an obvious form of dismissal.  
“We’re not finished yet, Loki.” She addressed his back angrily.  
“Oh, I believe we are, Kate.” He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled.  
“Like hell.” She relied. “I still have a few questions to ask you.”  
“And what will you give me in return I wonder?”  
“Excuse me?” Kate stared at his back, confused.  
“I said,” Loki turned again to face her, “what will you give me in return for the answers to your questions?”  
“What exactly do you want?” Kate asked as she stared at him suspiciously.  
“I want you.” He stated plainly, every ounce of jest gone from his countenance.  
“Wh--what?” Kate whispered as she stared at him in horror. Loki began approaching her, his steps graceful yet lethal at the same time.  
“I want your heart.” He whispered harshly. “Your soul.” As he spoke, his strides quickened until he was standing barely a foot away from Kate, the glass wall of the cell the only thing separating them. “I want your body and your mind.” He placed his hand above his head and leaned forward. Kate took an involuntary step back. “I want all of you.” He stated, his voice low and menacing. “Now the question is, Agent Poole, what are you wiling to sacrifice?” Kate desperately searched her mind for a biting response to that question. One that would both get some sort of information out of him, but would, more importantly, cover up the fact that he scared the hell out of her. But before she could even form a reply, she was saved by the sound of the door opening.  
“Agent Poole.” Kate turned away from Loki to face the person standing in the doorway.  
“Coulson?”  
“Mr. Stark wishes to have a word with you in the lab if your not otherwise engaged.” He stared pointedly over her shoulder at Loki who had since straightened his posture and was now glaring at Coulson for having interrupted their conversation.  
“What could Stark possibly want from me?”  
“He didn’t say.” Coulson didn’t elaborate, he just stood in the doorway waiting for her. Kate turned back to face Loki.  
“Well, I guess this--interrogation is just going to have to wait.” She murmured as she turned and walked towards the door. The door was just about to close behind her when Loki’s voice followed her out.  
“I always get what I want, Agent Poole. Never forget that.”


	7. Chapter 7

Kate followed Coulson as he made his way through the many corridors of the Helicarrier. After about two minutes of silence, Kate sighed and addressed her fellow agent.  
“Your timing is impeccable, Coulson.” She cringed when she heard the slight tremble in her voice, so she cleared her throat and continued. “I was just about to make up an excuse to leave before you walked in. That interrogation was going nowhere.” She stated, trying to add an air of nonchalance to her voice. When Coulson remained silent, Kate decided to change the subject. “Sooooo...Stark didn’t tell you why he wanted to see me?”  
“No.” Coulson replied succinctly. “He did not.” Kate stared at him suspiciously.  
“Alright. Spit it out, Coulson.” Kate demanded. “I know your not usually ‘Mr. Talkative,’ but this is ridiculous.” When he didn’t respond, she put her hand on his shoulder and forced him to stop in the middle of the almost deserted corridor. “What’s eating you?” Coulson raised his gaze to meet Kate’s before speaking in a hushed tone.  
“I heard what Loki said to you. All of it.” Kate averted her gaze from his.  
“How?” She muttered.  
“I was monitoring the security feed.” He replied softly.  
“Did Fury tell you to do that?”  
“No. The director is not aware that I knew about your interrogation of Loki.”  
“Keep it that way.” Kate stated softly, but vehemently. Coulson dropped his almost permanent poker face at this comment.  
“But Kate,” he replied, worry written on his face, “a threat like that shouldn’t be taken lightly. I must tell Director Fu--”  
“No!” Kate stated loudly, garnering the attention of a few passersby. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and continued softly. “No one must know about what went on during that interrogation. This is between me and that green eyed freak.” She pointed towards the direction in which they had just come when she mentioned Loki. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of this. Because of me.” She paused and took a calming breath. “Loki is insane, and I don’t know how he would react if someone tried to get in the way of something he wanted. I can’t risk it.” She placed her hand softly on Coulson’s shoulder and locked eyes with him. “Please, Phil.” Coulson stared back at her for a moment longer before shaking his head and sighing.  
“Fine.” Kate removed her hand from his shoulder and took a step back. “But if he hurts you or tries to, I will interfere.” Kate nodded at this in silent agreement. Coulson stared at her a moment longer before turning and continuing down the corridor towards their destination, Kate following closely at his heels. When they reached the main lab in which Tony Stark was apparently working, Coulson stopped and turned to face her.  
“Take care of yourself, Agent Poole.” Kate nodded slowly as Coulson turned and made his way back down the corridor. Kate took a deep breath before swiping her access card and entering the lab. When she entered, the two men working looked up. She recognized one of them as being the infamous Tony Stark, but his companion was the man in the purple shirt that she had not recognized from the meeting the previous day.  
“Agent Poole!” Tony Stark exclaimed as he raised his hands up in excitement. “Just the woman I wanted to see!”   
“Coulson said you needed me, Mr Stark.” She stood at attention and put her hands behind her back.  
“Please, call me Tony.” He smiled at her indulgently as he made his way from behind the counter he was working at and towards Kate. “And yes, I do need you...” Hey eyed her appreciatively. “in more ways than one.” He added suggestively.  
“What Mr. Stark means to say,” the mystery man in the purple shirt made his way from behind the counter and towards where Kate and Tony were standing, “is that we would appreciate it if you could possibly give us a quick summary of the intel you collected while working undercover.” He reached a hand out towards her and introduced himself in a quiet, mellow voice. “I’m Bruce Banner by the way, sorry we haven’t had a chance to meet properly yet.” He smiled shyly as Kate took his proffered hand and shook it lightly. Kate stared at Dr. Banner curiously. So this timid little man was the beast they called the Hulk? She thought to herself. Interesting.  
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Dr. Banner, I’ve heard so much about you and you remarkable work.”  
“Thanks.” He replied quietly.  
“So what kind of intel do you need exactly?” Kate asked. Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but Tony cut him off.  
“Oh, you know...” He shrugged his shoulders and continued, “What’s his favorite color? Boxers or briefs? Democrat or Republican?” He crossed his arms across his chest. “The usual.” Kate couldn’t stifle her laugh. Tony may be a rich, sarcastic asshole, but he was a funny rich, sarcastic asshole. He provided a dash of humor to her not so humorous life. Because of this fact, Kate decided to play along.  
“Well, if you don’t already know the answer to the first question, your either not the genius everyone thinks you are or your color blind, because his favorite color is practically the only color his clothes are made from. Question number two poses rather a problem seeing as I have not had the distinct pleasure of seeing Loki out of his crazy Disneyland costume. For all I know, he goes commando. And lastly, I’m pretty sure he’s neither Democrat or Republican, but his own party all together, which is most likely named after him.” Kate crossed her arms and leaned back against one of the counters in the lab, smiling smugly. “Did I miss anything?”  
Tony and Bruce stared at her in shocked silence for a moment before Tony burst out laughing.  
“I like this girl!” He wagged his finger at her as he laughed. “She’s got spunk! Nobody on this damn boat has any spunk.”  
“Tony,” Bruce stated softly, “I think we should get back to the matter at hand.”  
“Right you are, my dear fellow.” Tony responded in a fake British accent. “Why don’t you take the reins on this one, Doc.” Bruce nodded and took a moved to stand directly in front of Kate before speaking.  
“All that we need to know is if you noticed anything suspicious going on around you when you were undercover.”  
“I hate to break it to you doctor, but anything regarding Loki is pretty suspicious.” Kate replied.  
“What I mean to say,” Dr. Banner corrected, “is if you noticed any big projects or developments of any kind going on in Loki’s...lair.”  
“Now that I think about it, I caught a quick glimpse of Dr. Selvig and it looked like he was working on something big.” Kate responded. Tony, who had been casually leaning against the counter, straightened and approached Kate and Bruce, his eyebrows drawn together in thought.  
“Could you describe what Dr. Selvig was working on?” Tony asked, his expression serious.  
“Um, I’m afraid not.” Kate replied sadly. “I only saw it for a moment before Loki led me away. All I know is that it was big.” Tony and Bruce looked at each other as if they were trying to swap thoughts telepathically. After a few moments of charged silence, Kate decided to excuse herself.  
“Well, I’ll leave you two alone now.” She said as she stared backing up towards the door. It wasn't until she had reached the door and opened it that either man recalled her presence. Tony turned to look at her curiously before smiling.  
“Thank you for your help, Agent Poole.” Although he was smiling his voice sounded a bit strained. “We’ll see you around.” Kate nodded and walked out the door, frowning in confusion. That was weird, she thought, I wonder what they were so worried about?

Loki sat quietly in his cell, his brows furrowed in thought as he stared intently across the cage. The women who called herself the Black Widow had just attempted to weasel information out of him, and much to his chagrin, had succeeded in guessing his next move. Loki cursed under his breath as he stood to pace around his cell. That red headed whore would be the first one he would take care of once he got out the damned cage. But thoughts of the Black Widow brought another, more appealing, female agent to mind.   
“Kate.” He whispered with a maniacal grin on his face. Every time his thoughts turned to that spirited vixen, he couldn't help but to smile. He wanted her. More than he had ever wanted another women in his centuries of existence. Although she was not a beauty like the women of his homeland, she possessed a fiery spirit that boiled his blood like no other Asgardian beauty could. When he could finally make Kate his, and he would make her his, no power in all the nine realms would remove her from his side. Loki smiled at this thought as he leaned against the wall of the cell and closed his eyes. He was just thinking of ways to bring a satisfying end to the Black Widow, when a massive roar echoed throughout the ship. Loki’s face lit up with a grin as he whispered.  
“And so it begins.”


	8. Chapter 8

Kate hurried down the bright corridor towards her room, a million different thoughts running through her mind. What were Tony and Bruce so concerned about? If Loki was a god, why didn’t he just escape? And, if he did escape, what would he do to her? Kate shook her head as if to clear her thoughts and continued down the hallway until she came to her door. She swiped her access card and the door slid open soundlessly. Kate hurried through the door, which promptly slid shut behind her. Once inside, she leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and took a deep, steadying breath. She then wearily pushed herself away from the wall and made her way to the small bathroom on the other side of the room. She turned on the sink and proceeded to splash her face with cold water, attempting to calm her nerves. She reached for a towel, and as she was drying herself off, she stared at her reflection in the mirror above the sink with a mixture of disgust and confusion. What does he see in me? she thought as she glared at her reflection. Unremarkable blue eyes stared back. The dark brown hair that framed her face was shoulder length, curly and...ordinary. She was taller than average and in shape, but by no means skinny. Kate shook her head in frustration. She had never garnered as much attention as she seemed to be getting from Loki. After all he was an extremely handsome man...god. Why would he possibly be attracted to a plain Jane like her? Sure, he wanted revenge for her betrayal, but Kate felt as if there was something more to Loki’s obsession with her. She was about to think on that thought in greater depth, when a shuddering boom jolted the Helicarrier, knocking Kate painfully against the wall of the bathroom and onto the floor. Dazed, Kate gripped the edge of the sink and began pulling herself up, but froze when she heard a loud roar echo through the ship. Kate’s eyes widened.  
“What the hell?” She muttered as she pulled herself into a standing position before running back into her room to grab her gun and her communicator. She made her way quickly out of her room and began running down the corridor towards where the sound of the explosion had come from. As she was running, she put her communicator in her ear and activated it.   
“Agent Poole to the Bridge. Director Fury, do you copy?”  
“Poole! Where the hell have you been?”  
“I was in my quarters, sir when I heard the explosion. What the hell was that?”  
“Loki’s men have come to pick him up.” He replied sarcastically. “They blew out one of our main propellers. Stark and Rogers are out there now trying to repair the damage before we lose anymore altitude.” He paused, and she heard a volley of gunfire in the back round. “Whats your current location, Poole?”  
“I’m on deck two, sir.” There was another pause, followed by more gunfire.  
“Ok. Your job is to track down any of Loki’s goons and take them out. They are spread throughout the ship wreaking massive havoc. Our backup security programs show two of them heading toward the cargo bay. Probably looking for spare weapons.   
“You want me to kill them?”  
“No. Just slow them down. All of them seem to be under Loki’s control, and a few of them are even our own men. They don’t deserve to die because of what Loki has turned them into.”  
“Yes, sir.” She replied calmly. “Anything else?”  
“Just...be careful, Agent Poole.”  
“Will do, sir.” She replied as she turned off her communicator and ran full speed towards the cargo hold, unholstering her gun as she went.

Loki smirked as the doors to his cell slid open. Free at last. He thought to himself as he made his way towards the open door of his cage, but right as he stepped over the threshold, his oaf of a brother burst into the room, Mjölnir raised in preparation for a fight.  
“Loki!” His brother bellowed as he charged towards him. Loki rolled his eyes and lowered himself into a fighting stance. But right before Thor reached him, he vanished. Thor was carried by his momentum into the self-same cage from which Loki had just escaped. The door slid shut behind him and locked with a hiss. Loki appeared again next to the control panel on the other side of the room and stared and Thor, an expression of mock confusion on his pale face.  
“Are you ever not going to fall for that?” Thor yelled and banged Mjölnir against the glass wall of the cell in response, leaving a large crack in it’s wake. Loki smiled in amused satisfaction. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. He thought to himself. “The humans think us immortal.” He stated as he moved closer to the control panel, never taking his gaze off his “brother.” “Shall we test that theory?” He questioned as his hand hovered over the big red button that would release the cell when pressed. When Thor didn’t respond, Loki smiled and lowered his hand towards the button...  
“Move away please.” Loki turned abruptly to the source of the voice and was faced with an amusing sight. One of the puny little human agents stood not 10 feet away with a massive cannon-like gun clutched in his hands. Loki would have smiled were it not for the fact that he recognized this particular agent. He was the one who had so rudely interrupted his conversation with Kate not two hours ago. Loki did not like being interrupted.   
“You like this?” The mortal questioned. “We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don’t know what it does.” He switched the gun on. “Care to find out.” But before Coulson could even fire the gun, Loki appeared behind him and stabbed him through the heart with his scepter. Coulson grunted in surprise and Thor yelled in rage.  
“That was for interrupting me.” He whispered in the dying man’s ear before he let him fall to the floor. He calmly stepped over the body and made his way back over to the control panel again. He turned his gaze once more to his brother. Thor stared back at him not with hatred, but with disappointment as he moved towards the center of the cage, resigned to what was to come. Loki pressed the button without a second thought and watched his brother drop rapidly from view. Loki stepped away from the controls, a satisfied look on his face. He turned to leave the room, but was stopped short by a quiet voice.  
“You’re going to loose.” Loki turned to see the bothersome agent leaning weakly up against the wall.  
“Why?” Loki questioned.  
“It’s in your nature.” The dying man replied.   
“Your heroes are scattered. Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?”  
“You lack conviction.” Loki stared at the man in confusion.  
“I don’t think I...” But Loki was cut short as Coulson fired the gun at him and sent him flying across the room and through the wall. Loki got up slowly and painfully and brushed the dust and debris off of his armor with angry strokes. He turned back towards Coulson, thinking to finish the fool off once and for all, but thought better of it. He made his way to the door and walked casually into the corridor. It was finally time to claim his prize. Time to find Kate.

Kate reached the door of the cargo hold and swiped her card. The door opened and she stared into the black hole that was the massive Helicarrier’s cargo hold.  
“Great.” She muttered as she stepped through the door, which promptly shut right behind her, plunging her into complete darkness. She took a small flashlight off of her belt and switched it on before turning to look for the lighting controls. She found them located near the door and after a few moments of trial and error, combined with a fair amount of swearing, the cargo hold filled with light, albeit it dim light. Kate walked further into the hold, raising her gun as she went. She moved silently between the large crates that filled the cavernous room, blocking out the deep hum of the engines as she tried to pick up any suspicious sound. Suddenly she heard a slight movement behind her, but as she turned to see what it was, her gun was knocked out of her hands and slid across the concrete floor of the hold. Kate stared at the gun for a moment before turning her gaze to her attacker: a tall, bulky man with a shaved head. Typical. She thought to herself with a smirk.  
“Not cool.” She stated before launching her self at her unsuspecting attacker. He tried to dodge her oncoming attack, but he was too bulky and she was too fast. She jumped and wrapped her legs around his neck, throwing all of her weight to the side, subsequently unbalancing him. He fell to the floor with a thud and before he could even move to get up, Kate was on top of him. She brought her elbow down hard on his face and was rewarded with the loud crack of a breaking nose. He yelped in pain and tried to push her off of him, but was rendered unconscious by a well aimed punch to the jaw. Kate breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could move, a burly arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her up.   
“I forgot there were two of you assholes.” She muttered as she struggled against him. She tried elbowing him in the stomach, but that barely even fazed him, so she threw her head back and bashed him in the nose. Another loud crack followed by a howl of pain. “Two noses in one night.” Kate snickered. “I’m on a roll.” Her new attacker let out an enraged roar and charged at her. Kate braced herself for the attack, but right before the man could reach her, a very enraged God of Mischief appeared between Kate and her would-be attacker. He grabbed the man around the throat and threw him across the room with such force, that when he hit the wall, Kate could hear his neck snap. Her eyes widened in terror. Loki slowly turned to face her, and eery smile on his perfect face.  
“Hello, darling.” He took a step towards her. “Did you miss me?” Kate didn’t even respond. She just turned on her heel and ran in the opposite direction back towards the door of the hold, scooping her gun up as she went. She was about twenty feet from the door when Loki appeared in front of her only way out. Without even thinking, Kate raised her gun and fired the whole clip at Loki’s chest. When the clip was empty, Loki stared down at his unharmed chest, then back up at her and smiled.  
“Are you quite finished, my dear? By all mean, fire another volley if it makes you feel better.” Kate stared at him in horror before turning to run back into the depths of the cargo hold, loading a new clip into her gun as she went. She bolted between two large containers and lowered herself into a crouch.  
“Your game of hide and seek is fast becoming most tiresome, pet.” She heard Loki’s voice echo through the cargo hold. “Why don’t you come out and save me the trouble of having to find you, because find you I will, Kate.” Kate stood up and moved silently through the maze of crates, her ears straining for any suspicious noise. Then out of nowhere she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist from behind.  
“At last.” She heard Loki whisper. “Your mine now.” Then everything went black.


	9. Chapter 9

Kate awoke with a start and sat bolt upright, regretting the movement a moment later when her head began to pound incessantly. She snapped her eyes shut and brought her hands up to massage her temples, willing the painful rushing feeling to stop. When she finally was able to open her eyes, she was faced with a rather shocking sight. She was sitting on a massive bed in the center of an equally massive room. One of the most extravagant rooms Kate had ever seen.  
“What the hell.” Kate mumbled as she continued to rub her temples. This was definitely not the Helicarrier, she thought wryly. Thats when it all came rushing back to her: The explosion on the Helicarrier. The fight in the cargo hold. Loki. Kate’s eyes widened in fear as her eyes darted around the room, searching for the green eyed god. When she assured herself that he was no where in the room, she slid silently out of the plush bed. It was then that she realized she was no longer dressed in her SHIELD uniform, but in a flowing green silk nightgown of some sort. She fingered the material in annoyance and distaste, wondering how she had gotten into it while she was unconscious. Pushing the disturbing thought out of her mind, she made her way to the door and pressed her ear against the cool, dark wood, listening for any sound of movement on the other side. When she was satisfied that the coast was clear, she opened the door and stopped short. The room before her was even more massive than the bedroom, with one whole wall made up completely of windows. Windows that overlooked the city of Manhattan in all its glory. Kate glanced around the room to ensure that she was alone before she soundlessly made her way towards the windows, the hem of her nightgown swishing around her ankles with each step she took. The view she was faced with nearly took her breath away. The apartment that she was in was many stories up with a magnificent view of the Chrysler Building as well the Hudson River in the distance. It was at that moment that Kate finally realized where she was.  
“Stark fucking Tower.” Kate mumbled in disbelief. “Subtle, Loki. Very subtle.”   
“Subtlety wasn’t exactly what I was going for, Agent Poole.” Kate turned with a start at the sound the smooth voice too close behind her for comfort. “On the contrary,” Loki continued, as he smiled at her indulgently, “I was actually going for the opposite affect, for a god is never subtle.” Kate had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.   
“Well you hit the nail on the head with this place.” She mumbled under breath, as she took in the expensive furnishings and the ten million dollar view. “Not an ounce of subtlety in sight.” When she returned her gaze to Loki, she noticed that he was no longer smiling, but staring avidly at her as if she were his next meal. She took an involuntary step back. Apparently play time was over.  
“Are you frightened of me, my dear?” Loki questioned as he took yet another step in her direction.  
“I’d be a fool not to be.” She replied succinctly. It was then that Loki’s feral smile returned with a vengeance.  
“Smart girl.” He murmured as he reached out an elegant hand to stroke her cheek. Kate flinched at the contact, and Loki frowned in annoyance. “But you need not fear me any longer, dear Kate.” He reluctantly removed his hand from her cheek. “I had much time to think while I was locked in that infernal cell, and I have come to the decision that once I am King of this pitiful planet, you will stand beside me. As my Queen.” Kate’s mouth dropped open in shock before she blurted out the first thing that came into her mind.  
“No fucking way.” Loki stared at her, confused by her comment.  
“What do you mean, no?” Loki took another threatening step towards her and grabbed her upper arms in his vice-like grip, his green eyes almost black with anger. “Once I am King, most women will kill to be in your present position.”  
“Well I am not ‘most women.’” Kate ripped her arms from his grasp, not caring any more if she angered him. “You have threatened and almost killed me, along with many other people I know and care about. You are threatening to take over my planet and force your rule on its inhabitants. And now, you’ve kidnapped me and are holding me prisoner!” She pushed him away from her with all her might. “Why in the name of all that is holy, would I ever want to become your ‘Queen’, you crazy bastard!” Loki was in front of her in a flash, pushing her against the closest wall before Kate could even take a breath.  
“And who said I was giving you a choice in the matter, my love.” He gripped her chin firmly, halting her struggles and forcing her to look at him. When he saw fear mixed with anger swimming in her bright blue eyes, he sighed and loosened his grip on her chin. He hung his head, in a gesture which could almost be perceived as guilt. Kate ceased her struggles and stared at him in confusion. Was Loki actually feeling remorse of some kind? Before she could think on it further, she heard Loki whisper,  
“You hold me in the palm of your hand, my dear Kate, and yet you don’t even realize it.” Kate’s heart stopped at his comment. She took a deep breath before she replied quietly,  
“What are you talking about, Loki?” He suddenly brought both of his hands up to cup her face, raising his gaze to meet hers as he did so.  
“You have bewitched me.” Loki whispered, his voice wavering slightly. Kate stared at him in confusion. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought he actually harbored genuine feelings for her. Feelings beyond revenge.  
“Loki, I--” But she was cut short as Loki brought his lips down to meet hers. He kissed her hungrily, almost frantically, as if he feared that she would disappear at any moment. Kate was too shocked at first to respond, but after a few short seconds of indecision and doubt, she buried her fingers in his raven hair and surrendered herself to his demanding assault. Sensing her compliance, Loki pressed himself even closer to her, while his hands moved from her face to drift down her sides and finally onto her hips. He moved his own hips forward and pressed himself against her center with a groan of pleasure, making Kate shudder in response. Loki repeated the action, and Kate responded by wrapping a leg around his slender hips and digging her nails into his scalp, moaning wantonly against his lips.   
A moment later, Loki grew impatient. He suddenly wrapped both arms around Kate’s waist and lifted her into his arms, before making his way to the bedroom. Kate was in a sort of daze and didn’t even think to struggle against him as her tossed her on the bed and stared down at her, his hands clenched in fists at his sides and his breath coming in heated gasps. Kate stared back at him, her breath equally as uneven and with hunger in her eyes, and that was all the motivation Loki needed. His armor disappeared in mere seconds and Kate was suddenly face with the God of Mischief in all his glory. Her eyes widened and her breathing became even more ragged than before as her eyes took in the figure before her. Before she could even open her mouth to speak, Loki was on top of her, his mouth fuzed to hers and his hands working their way beneath the long skirt of her green nightgown. He rucked the skirt all the way up to her waist, before spreading her legs apart and coming to rest between them. Kate brought her hands up to his shoulders and stroked the pale skin, before pulling his dark head down for a kiss. He complied and kissed her with such passion that Kate thought she might very well explode right there in his arms. His lips moved from hers to trail along her jaw and onto her neck.   
Kate wrapped her arms around him and gripped him tightly as he nipped and kissed his way down to her chest, where he suddenly stopped and looked up at her, longing in his eyes. When Kate smiled at him encouragingly, he waved his hand and her nightgown disappeared in a flash, leaving both of them bare. Kate’s pulse raced at the contact and Loki groaned before leaning down to kiss her now bared breasts. Kate arched her back and laced her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. Loki growled as he continued his ministrations on her breasts while he reached down, wrapped his hands around her thighs and forced them around his hips. They both moaned at the sudden contact, and before Kate could even protest, Loki thrust into her with a satisfied groan. Kate’s thighs tightened like a vice around his hips as she arched up to meet him. Loki raised his head to stare at her as he slowly thrust into her repeatedly.  
“You are mine now, Kate.” He whispered hoarsely as he moved within her. “Mine.” When she offered no response, he grabbed her chin and forced her gaze to his. “Let me hear you say it.”   
“Yours.” She whispered, closing her eyes in pleasure.  
“Louder.” He ordered, his thrusts becoming faster and harder.  
“Yours!” Kate all but screamed as she fell apart in his arms. Loki smiled against her lips as he drove into her mercilessly, sending her over the edge yet again and this time following her with a hoarse yell. He collapsed on top of her, breathing raggedly against her neck as she dug her nails into his back. Realizing that he was probably to heavy for her, Loki attempted to move, but discovered that Kate’s legs were still wrapped tightly around his hips. He smiled slightly, before whispering in her ear,  
“You can release me now, my little warrior.” He lifted his head to gaze at her, brushing her hair from her face as he did so. “The battle is over...for now.” Kate released her grip on him and slumped against the pillows, exhausted.  
“I still hate you.” She murmured petulantly, a childish frown on her face as her eyes drifted shut.  
“Of course you do, sweet.” Loki replied with a smile before stretching out next to her. He then wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her towards him, where she unknowingly snuggled against his side, her small hand resting on his chest. He pulled a blanket over them and tucked Kate more firmly against him. There were still a few more hours until Fury and his agents would discover his whereabouts and come to try and stop him, but for now, he would hold his sleeping Queen, his Kate, in his arms for a little while longer.


	10. Chapter 10

Kate awoke slowly, almost languidly, as if from a pleasant dream. She stretched, her back arching as she opened her eyes. It was at that moment that everything, every touch, every kiss, every moan, came rushing back to her. She swallowed nervously as she slowly lifted the sheet up and glanced down at her nude body with a sense of dread and regret.  
“What the hell have you done, Kate?” She chastised herself as she wrapped the silk sheet around her and jumped off the bed. “You slept with the fucking enemy, thats what you did.” She muttered to herself as she paced around the room, looking for something more appropriate to wear than the bed linens that she was presently encased in. Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks. Speaking of the enemy, she thought, where the hell is Loki? Kate’s eyes darted around the room as she searched for the god in question. When she was satisfied that she was completely alone in the room, she made her way to the closet on the other side of the room to search for clothes, but stopped suddenly when she heard voices coming from the direction of the large living room of the penthouse. Male voices. She made her way silently back to the door and placed her ear to it, instantly discerning Loki’s deep, liquid voice. She strained her ears to make out who the other voice belonged to and was shocked to discover the owner of the voice was none other than Tony Stark. Kate swore under her breath. If Stark were to discover her in this--compromising position, he, nor any other members of SHIELD would ever trust her again. Kate was about to make a hasty escape before she was discovered, when the topic of their conversation caught her interest.  
“The Chituari are coming. Nothing will change that.” What the hell is a Chituari, Kate thought to herself as Loki continued. “What have I to fear?”  
“The Avengers.” Tony replied before he paused, the sound of ice cubes rattling in a glass filled the silence. Kate wanted to laugh. Only Tony Stark could calmly have a drink whilst he was having a face off with the God of Mischief. Tony continued after a moment of silence (and drinking). “It’s what we call ourselves. Sort of like a team. Earth’s mightiest heroes type thing.  
“Yes, I’ve met them.” Kate could hear the amusement in Loki’s voice. Tony laughed.  
“Ya. It takes us a while to get any traction, I’ll give you that one. But,” Tony paused for effect, “let’s do a head count here: Your brother, the demi-god.” Loki scoffed and Kate could just imagine his annoyed expression at the mention of his “brother.” “A super solider, a living legend who kinda lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger management issues. A couple of master assassins, and you big fella. You’ve managed to piss off every single one of them. Oh, and lets not forget the fact the you also kidnapped one of them.”  
“That was the plan.” Loki replied smugly. Tony chuckled sardonically.  
“Not a great plan.” Tony paused to take another drink. “Speaking of kidnapped agents, where is Agent Poole?” When Loki didn’t respond, Tony sighed dramatically. “Doesn’t matter. She’s a fighter. I bet you at this moment she’s escaped your grimy little clutches and is on her way to join the others who are out for your head. And when they come, and they will come, they’ll come for you.” Kate smiled at Tony’s obvious appreciation of her skills.  
“I have and army.” Loki threatened in a low and menacing voice.  
“We have a Hulk.” Tony shot back.   
“Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off.” Loki commented snidely.  
“Ya, your missing the point.” Tony replied, suddenly very serious. At this point, Kate’s curiosity got the better of her and she opened the door a crack and peered out into the living room. Loki’s back was facing her and she could just barely make out the top of Tony’s head over the gods broad shoulders. “There’s no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes back and maybe its to much for us, but its all on you! Because if we can’t protect the earth, you can be damned well sure we’ll avenge it.”  
“How will your friends have time for me,” Loki threatened as he slowly approached Tony and raised the glowing staff towards the billionaire's chest, “when they’re so busy fighting you?” Loki moved his staff closer and closer to Tony’s chest and it took all of Kate’s strength not to cry out a warning and give her presence away, but her fear was short lived when Loki finally touched the glowing scepter to Stark’s chest and nothing happened. Loki, with an extremely confused expression on his face, brought the staff down against his chest again with a little more force, but was only rewarded with the sound of his staff clinking against Tony’s glowing miniaturized arc reactor. Loki looked up at Tony, the look of a petulant child on his face, and Kate had to suppress a giggle.  
“This usually works.” Loki muttered more to himself than anyone.  
“Well, you know. Performance issues.” Tony shot back with his usual twisted humor. “You know, it’s not uncommon. One out of five--” But he was cut off when and enraged God of Mischief picked him up and threw him to the ground. She heard Stark whisper something before Loki wrapped his long fingers around his neck and lifted him off the ground with the strength of ten men and spoke in a low, threatening tone.  
“You will all fall before me.” Then she heard Tony yell something which sounded like “deploy” before Loki promptly threw him out the window. Kate didn’t even have a moment to be shocked before a door on the opposite side of the room opened and some sort of red and gold pod flew out of it and towards the window, knocking Loki flat on his ass in the process. The pod then flew at the window in Tony’s vertical direction and Kate could only assume it was one of his many robotic suites, so she breathed a sigh of relief knowing the Stark was not about to plummet to his death. Her relief was short lived though when she saw Loki slowly making his way to his feet with a string of what she assumed were Asgardian curses. She quickly and quietly closed the door and ran towards the closet to renew her search for clothing and thanked God when she saw her SHEILD uniform sitting on a shelf in the closet, neatly folded and calling to her. She dropped the sheet, but before she dawned her suit she head a loud explosion coming from the living room which she assumed was Tony giving Loki a bit of a taste of his own medicine. She mentally thanked Stark for buying her some time to vacate the premises before Loki could get his hands on her again. She quickly dressed before making her way to the small balcony on the other side of the room. She threw open the doors and made her way to the edge of the balcony before looking down over the city. She couldn’t help but smile with relief at what she saw.

Loki picked himself up off the floor slowly, letting lose a string of expletives in his native tongue. That bastard Stark was a hard man to kill he thought to himself as he brushed broken glass off his shoulders and out of his hair. He then turned with an angry jerk and made his way determinedly to the bedroom, planning on possibly taking his anger out on Kate, his little warrior. He waved his hand and the doors to the bedroom swung open with a bang and Loki instantly spotted Kate standing on the balcony fully dressed and staring at him nervously. His features instantly softened at the sight of her and he smiled indolently as he reached his hand out, beckoning her to him.  
“Come here.” He demanded sweetly. When Kate didn’t budge, Loki’s smile disappeared and was replaced by an angry frown. “I said, come here.” He demanded with more force. But Kate just smiled slightly and before Loki could stop her, she vaulted over the railing of the balcony.   
“No!” Loki yelled as he lunged toward the balcony. When he reached the railing, he looked down over the city, searching for the falling form the reckless woman. His woman. When he didn’t see her, his brow knotted in confusion. His confusion turned to anger though when he spotted the blasted mortal, Stark, flying away from the building with a small figure dressed in black held securely in his arms. His anger turned to absolute rage and he turned angrily and made his way back towards the living room with angry, determined strides deciding then and there that Stark would be the first to die.


	11. Chapter 11

"Soooo...What do ya think about my penthouse? Pretty nice, right?" Kate stared at Tony with a mixture of horror and confusion before bursting into hysterical, uncontrollable laughter at his utterly ridiculous, and completely irrelevant, question, her head thrown back in mirth and her hair blowing in the wind as they flew down towards the street, his metal encased arms wrapped securely around her. She laughed because she knew if she didn't, she would likely burst into tears. Tears of hate. Tears of confusion. Tears of...loss. She had picked her side, and it wasn't Loki's. That insufferable, helmet wearing, spear carrying, power hungry psychopath who had shown a side of himself to Kate that she would never have thought existed. Loki could care. He had proved that much to her when she had shattered into a million pieces in his arms, clinging to him like some love sick fool and then falling asleep wrapped protectively in his arms. The feelings he stirred scared the hell out of her. At this thought, Kate laughed even harder.

"I know I'm a pretty funny guy," Tony commented as he approached the pavement, "but I'm not THAT funny." At his comment, Kate got control of her emotions and cleared her throat awkwardly before extricating herself from his arms and landing gracefully on the street.

"Sorry about that." Kate muttered. "Just had a bit of a breakdown." She swore she heard Tony snort behind his mask. "Thanks for catching me by the way."

"I never could resist a damsel in distress." Tony replied. "Especially one being held prisoner by a psycho like Puff the Magic Dickwad." He nodded his head back towards the direction of Stark Tower. "Did he do anything to you?" Tony's voice turned serious, as his mask lifted to expose his equally serious expression. It was on the tip of her tongue to blurt of the truth, but she just shook her head.

"No. I'm fine." She lied. "Just a little rattled I guess." Tony opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a loud blast and a burst of bright blue light coming from the direction of Stark Tower. Both Kate and Tony looked up towards the roof of the skyscraper right as a beam of blue light shot straight into the sky, a dark hole forming where the beam ended. A portal. THE portal.

"Shit." Tony muttered as he stared at the sky with a mixture of horror and awe. "SHIT!" He repeated again more forcefully as creatures started swarming out of the mouth of the portal and down towards the city below. He turned back to face Kate before muttering, "Showtime." His mask slammed down to cover his face as he shot off the ground and towards the oncoming assault. "Find Rogers, Barton and Romanoff!" He yelled over his shoulder, then almost as an afterthought added, "And don't get killed!" He then pushed higher into the sky, his gold and crimson armor becoming smaller and smaller with each passing second. A moment later a black quinjet flew by over head and Kate smiled knowing who the passengers of the jet would be. She pushed herself into a sprint, her eyes raised towards the sky as she both followed the jet and monitored the sky for an oncoming attack, realizing with annoyance that she had no weapons of any kind. With that disturbing thought, she picked up her pace and ran as fast as her feet would carry her down the now chaotic streets of New York, pushing her way through hordes of screaming, helpless civilians towards the direction in which she saw the black quinjet disappear.

She turned onto Park Avenue, spying the jet in the distance heading Stark Tower. She ran forward as fast as her legs would carry her in that direction, but a moment later something was fired at the jet and it started spiraling towards the earth, one of it wings flaming. The pilot, who she was guessing was Barton, managed to pull the nose of the jet up right as it passed dangerously close over Grand Central Station. The ruined jet hit the ground and slid on its belly, ripping up the concrete and asphalt with it, as it came to a stop in front of the infamous train station. Kate watched as the ramp on the back of the jet lowered and three battered, but alive, Avengers ran out, guns blazing. Kate had almost reached them when out of nowhere, something swooped down and knocked her painfully to the ground. Kate quickly jumped to her feet and turned to face her attacker. Her mouth nearly dropped open. The creature was hideous. Skeleton-like and grey of color, the alien towered over her, its spear like weapon pointed at her chest. "So your a Chitauri, huh?" Kate muttered. "Your one ugly son of a bitch, aren't you." Kate lowered herself into a battle stance and she could have sworn she heard the creature snicker at her.

"What?" Kate taunted. "You think I'm funny?" With a fierce yell, she launched herself at the creature, effectively catching him by surprise as she knocked it's feet out from under it with a quick swipe of her leg. It fell in a heap on the concrete, what could only be called a guttural curse erupting from him as he struggled to stand. Kate took that opportunity of confusion to grab the creatures spear and plunge it through the things eye socket and into its brain. "Am I funny now, asshole?" She muttered as she yanked the spear out of the still twitching alien. Not wasting another second, Kate bolted down the street again and towards the trio of allies who were taking on about a dozen of the creepy ass aliens. On her way, she felled two more of the creatures with the spear she had "confiscated" from the first alien, discovering with no small delight, that the spear also doubled as a gun of sorts. When she finally reached Rogers, Barton, and Romanoff, she was out of breath and covered in black blood, the spear gripped confidently in her hand.

"What took you so long?" she questioned as she stared at friends.

"We could ask you the same thing." Clint shot back.

"Ha ha." Kate replied dryly. "So, whats the plan?" She asked before adding, "Besides not dying."

"Well, we should start by closing that thing." Captain Rogers said as he pointed towards the portal. "No matter how many of these things we kill, more just keep coming."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Kate questioned. "The thing has its own personal force field according to Stark."

"Where there's a will, there's a way." Rogers stated confidently.

"Thank you, Captain Cliché." Kate muttered. "I'll be sure to remember that." Just then, a loud roar echoed through the city street and the four of them looked towards the portal with a sense of dread. The roar belonged to a massive whale-like creature that once making its way through the portal, proceeded to wreak absolute havoc on the city and its many building.

"Stark!" Captain Rogers yelled into his communicator. "Are you seeing this?"

"Seeing." Stark replied. "Still working on believing. Have you seen Banner yet?"

"Banner?" Steve questioned.

"Just keep me posted." Tony replied before cutting off the communication. They all turned back to the rather...large matter at hand. As the behemoth approached the streets, more of the alien warriors detached themselves from the beast's side and landed in the streets and on the walls of buildings, destroying everything in there path. Kate began shooting any of the aliens that came near her and covered Barton as he helped civilians to safety. Captain Rogers went off to roust the police force and form an evacuation plan as Kate and Nat fought side by side, saving each others lives multiple times over the course of only a few minutes. Steve returned and joined the fray as well as Thor who swooped down, lightning announcing his arrival.

"Whats the story upstairs?" Rogers asked.

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." Thor replied.

"What else is new." Kate mumbled.

"Thor's right." Tony's said through their communicators. "We gotta deal with these guys."

"How do we do this?" Nat questioned.

"As a team." Cap replied.

"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor stated.

"Ya?" Barton scoffed, fiddling with his arrows. "Well, get in line."

"Save it." Rogers chastised. "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and thats what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We get Stark up top..." But the Captain's plan was cut short when they heard the revving of a motor behind them, turning as one to see where the noise was coming from. And sure enough, Dr. Banner was getting off of a beaten up motorcycle and walking calmly towards them, his clothes practically hanging off of him.

"So. This all seems...horrible." He stated calmly.

"I've seen worse." Natasha stated.

"Sorry."

"No. We could use a little worse." Nat replied with a slight smile.

"Stark." Captain Rogers stated into his communicator. "We got him."

"Banner?" Tony questioned.

"Just like you said."

"Well tell him to suit up." Tony stated. "I'm bringing the party to you." Just then, Stark came speeding around the corner, giant whale-like alien in tow.

"I-I don't see how thats a party." Natasha mumbled and Kate couldn't suppress a small giggle.

"Dr. Banner?" Steve addressed Bruce. "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

Thats my secret, Captain." Bruce said, turning and walking towards the oncoming beast. "I'm always angry." Kate gasped as she watched the soft spoken doctor transform right before her eyes into a giant, green...well, rage monster as she had heard Tony describe. The Hulk then proceeded to beat the absolute shit out of the huge monster and Kate couldn't help but be impressed. Tony finally found his soft spot and fired a small missile into the side of the beast, blowing it up and effectively covering them all with gooey alien bits.

"Ewww." Kate groaned as she wiped herself off in disgust. The air filled with the sound of the other aliens screeching at the top of their longs as if mourning the loss of one of their own. Hulk answered back with a blood curdling roar of his own. They all gathered in a circle, loading their various weapons and preparing for battle. All of them together. Kate smiled to herself. She wasn't supposed to be a part of the Avengers, yet here she was, fighting side by side with them. Who knows? She thought to herself. Maybe Fury will give me a promotion...If we survive, that is. Kate's musings were interrupted by the sound of more of the behemoth-like aliens coming through the mouth of the portal and straight for them. Natasha look over at her and offered a small smile, reaching for one of the many guns strapped to her legs and handing it to her.

"Don't shoot your eye out." She muttered sarcastically.

"I'll try to resist the urge." Kate shot back and winked at Nat and Clint who was standing next to her.

"Call it, Captain." Stark urged.

"All right, listen up." Steve said as he assed the problem. "Till we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on the roof, eyes on everything." Barton nodded. "Call out any patterns and strays." Steve then turned to Tony. "Stark, you've got the perimeter. Anything gets beyond three blocks out, your turn it back or you turn it to ash."

"Can I get a lift?" Clint asked Tony.

"Right." Tony answered. "Better clench up, Legolas."

"Thor." The Captain turned to face the Thunder God. "You gotta try and bottle neck that portal. Slow 'em down. You got the lightning, light the bastards up." Steve then turned to face Nat and Kate. "We stay on the ground, fighting here." The two women nodded and took there various battle stances. The last one Steve addressed was Hulk, and he was short,sweet, and to the point. "And Hulk?" Hulk grunted. "Smash." Hulk smiled. Then with a massive roar, launched into the air, taking down an alien every couple seconds. Natasha, Steve, and Kate took out dozens of the Chitauri, but it didn't seem to be doing any good, they just kept coming...and coming. Kate at just broke the neck of a particularly brutal one, when she looked over and saw Nat and Captain Rogers talking. She started walking back towards them, but stopped in her tracks as she watched Natasha run towards the Captain and jump onto his shield as he pushed her into the air. She attached herself to one of the alien vessels that was fling over head and sped out of sight. Kate broke into a sprint.

"What the hell was that about." Kate yelled as she reached Steve. He turned towards her, cuts covered his face and his chest heaved as he caught his breath.

"She needed a ride to the top of Stark Tower, so she hitched one with one of those things."

"And you let her?" Kate fumed. "Are you crazy! She may be an amazing agent, but last time I checked she couldn't fly. What happens if she falls?"

"War requires sacrifice." He replied morosely.

"Says the solider who can't die." Kate shot back. "Well, if thats how you feel, then I'm gonna go do some sacrificing of my own." Kate head back the way she came, taking down any stray Chitauri she came across. She was just rounding the corner onto 42nd street when she felt an odd tingling sensation playing on the back of her neck. She tilted her head to look up towards the sky, and her eyes widened when she spotted Loki riding one of the odd alien crafts and heading straight towards her, a look of anger mixed with determination written on his pale face. Kate didn't think twice but turned and ran as far and as fast as she could back the direction from which she had just come. "No matter how far and fast you run Kate, I will always find you." She could have sworn she heard Loki say. But when she looked up and over her shoulder, he was still high about her, following her at what appeared to her to be a leisurely pace. He was in her mind, playing tricks with her brain. Kate shook her head, trying to rid herself of his voice, but it kept repeating over and over again.

"You are mine. You are mine. YOU ARE MINE!" Kate let out a frustrated scream as she sprinted down the rubble strewn street, spotting Rogers and Stark in the distance, taking on a few dozen aliens. When she finally reached them and joined the battle, she chanced a glance towards the sky and spotted Loki just as he flew overhead, one last phrase echoed through her mind.

"You belong to me. My Queen. My Kate." His voice filled her mind like a seductive song.

"Hey, Katie!" She felt Stark nudge her arm, effectively bringing her back to the real world. "Whats up with you, space cadet?" He voice tinged with a bit of worry. "You get clocked on the head?" Kate opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by the sound of Nat's voice on the communicator.

"Loki's staff can shut down the portal! We need to get it!"

"Try Stark Tower." Barton replied over the communicator. "I just sent Loki flying with great velocity into the penthouse a few seconds ago." Barton stated smugly.

"Jealous!" Stark whined like a petulant child.

"I'll go." Kate spoke up before thinking. Tony and Steve turned to face her and Nat and Clint went silent on the com. "I'll go get the staff." She elaborated. "But I'll need a lift." She said, turning to look at Stark.

"But what if tall, dark and creepy is still up there?" He questioned.

"It might be nice to get a little payback for what he's put me through." She stated, her voice shaking slightly at the prospect of facing him again. "If it makes you feel any better, you can stay with me and be my knight in..." She looked down at his gore and scratch covered suit, "not so shining armor." Stark just nodded before stepping forward to wrap and arm around her. Before the took off, Steve muttered,

"Good luck." Kate nodded before her and Tony promptly flew into the air towards Stark Tower.

"I see the staff!" Kate exclaimed as they reached the Tower. The staff was lying on the balcony in plain sight, just waiting to be taken. Stark swooped down and Kate scooped up the staff. It felt odd in her grip, it was cool yet hot at the same time as well as it being lighter than it looked. Kate stared at it as she switched on her com.

"Nat, we got it. You still on the roof?"

"Ya." She replied simply.

"We're on our way." Tony flew up towards the roof, Kate wrapped safely in his arms and Loki's staff safely in her grasp. When they reached the roof, Kate dropped the staff down towards Natasha who promptly caught it and headed back to where the portal stood. Tony was making his way back towards the street, when a Chitauri came out of no where and barreled into them, knocking Kate from Tony's arms and onto the balcony 15 ft bellow. Kate groaned as she stood, checking for broken bones and any other injuries. She looked around for Tony, and spotted him a few hundred yards away battling it out with 15 or so Chitauri.

"You ok?" Tony ask through the com.

"Ya. I'm fine. Just a little bruised."

"You want me to come get you?" Tony asked, genuine concern lacing his words.

"No, your a bit busy as the moment. I think I'll just head back towards the roof and help Nat."

"How do you plan on getting up there?"

"I'll take the stairs, dumbass." She replied, making Tony chuckle.

"Stairs? Never heard of them." He replied with feigned stupidity. Kate laughed tiredly before turning to head into the penthouse, but when she reached the door, she stopped dead.

 

Loki turned his head at the sound of the door from the balcony opening. Pain shot through his whole body, but when he saw who had just come through the door, his pain disappeared almost instantly.

"Kate?" He murmured hoarsely from his very own self made crater in the middle of the stone floor of Stark's home.

"What the hell happened to you?" Her voice came out as a gravely whisper. Loki pushed himself into a sitting position.

"I had a bit of a confrontation with the green beast."

"Hulk did this to you?" Kate questioned. Loki nodded, wincing at the movement. Kate approached him hesitantly, a reluctant look of concern on her beautiful face. "You must have really pissed him off." Loki tried to laugh but it turned into a jarring cough instead.

"I seem to be doing that a lot lately." He replied hoarsely before raising his gaze to meet hers. "Kate..." he began, but he was cut short by a noise behind Kate. She turned to see what it was and was suddenly thrown backwards in a flash of bright blue light. A Chitauri warrior stood by one of the broken windows, his gun still raised and steaming.

"NO!" Loki yelled as he sprang to his feet and towards Kate, his pain forgotten. When he reached her she was gasping for breath, a gaping hole sat right in the center of her chest, still smoking from the blast of the Chitauri's gun. Loki bellowed with rage as he threw himself at the snickering Chituari and broke its neck in one swift movement, throwing its body out the broken window. He then turned and dropped to his knees next to Kate, whose breaths were becoming more and more labored. He put his hands over her wound and started muttering a healing spell, but his magic was to weak from the battle and her injury to far gone. He took her in his arms and cradled her against his chest.

"You cannot leave me, Kate." He murmured hoarsely into her hair. "I will not let you."

"Loki?" He heard her whisper. He looked down into her once vivid blue eyes, growing dull now as the life slowly left her body.

"Yes, my little warrior?" She opened her mouth to say something but ended up just raising her hand to rest briefly against his cheek, a small smile playing on her lips. Then her eyes slowly closed and she went still, her hand dropping from his cheek. Loki filled with rage and anger and hate. His eyes grew cold as he clutched Kate's body to his chest. Every shred of feeling, every scrap of humanity he had previously possessed, however minuscule, died with the women in his arms. It was not over. Midgard would be his. He may have lost the battle, but there were many battles in a war. And this war was far from over.


	12. Chapter 12

“He’s too quiet.” Captain Rogers stated to the rest of the Avengers as they approached the spot in Central Park from which Thor and Loki would depart. “He hasn’t tried to escape...or do anything suspicious, for that matter, since we took him into custody. Don’t you think its strange?”  
“My brother knows when he has been defeated.” Thor stated.   
“You sure about that, big guy?” Tony questioned, pushing his sunglasses down over the bridge of his nose and staring at Thor over the top of them. Thor hesitated slightly before answering,  
“I think perhaps he may be upset over the death of the Lady Katherine.” Tony and Bruce shared a brief, but meaningful, look, much to the confusion of the blonde god. “Do you not agree?”  
“Maybe your right.” Bruce said quietly. “He seemed to pay a disturbing amount of attention to Agent Poole.”   
Loki listened intently to the conversation going on between his brother and his allies. The way in which they spoke of him as if he were not standing there in their midst was extremely irritating. But it did not anger him as much as the way in which they spoke of Kate. It was as if she was just another lost warrior. Another pawn in their game. When in reality, she was much more than that. She should have been a Queen. His Queen. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the so called Avengers, his lips twitching with rage behind the infernal muzzle that had been put over his mouth.  
“Come along, brother.” Thor pushed him forward. “It is time that we returned home.”  
Dr. Selvig handed Thor a clear cylinder containing the Tesseract, Thor then offered one of the handles to Loki who took it reluctantly. Loki lifted his gaze to take one last look at Midgard. His eyes scanned the park in which they were located, but his gaze stopped suddenly on the figure of a mortal woman standing next to a large fountain, staring straight up at them. Loki’s breath caught in his throat. It couldn’t be her. He had held her as she died in his arms, and yet...  
“Are you ready, Loki?” Loki reluctantly dragged his gaze from the mystery woman by the fountain to glare at Thor. He nodded. Thor twisted the end of the cylinder he held in his hand, and they began to disappear in a swirl of blue light. Loki turned his gaze one last time to where the woman had stood, but she was gone.

 

2 days later...  
“This report states that an agent by the name of Poole was killed in the battle of New York. You are Katherine Poole, are you not?”  
“I am.”  
“Then please explain how you are standing here now, very much alive.”  
“Maybe I’m a ghost.”  
“You would do well not to joke, Agent Poole. Because of the suspicious nature of your relationship with the war criminal Loki, you are on extremely thin ice.”  
“I don’t have a relationship with the war criminal Loki, suspicious or otherwise.”  
“Then please explain why he was found in Tony Stark’s penthouse, following his defeat during the battle in Manhattan, holding you in his arms.”  
“I couldn't tell you, Councilor. I was sadly unconscious and on the brink of death at the time. Why don’t you ask him?”  
“Remember to whom you are addressing, Agent Poole.”  
“Who the hell do you think you people are? I almost died fighting to save this world, and yet, your trying to turn me into a some sort of traitor by implying that I had a ‘special relationship’ with the enemy. If this is the thanks I get, then I would kindly like to tender my resignation.”  
“You know that is quite impossible, Poole. Once an agent, always and agent. But that is beside the point, as well as being irrelevant to this discussion. Now, would you kindly tell us why, if you were not somehow connected with Loki, has Director Fury found it necessary to pretend that you had actually been killed that day in New York?”  
“When Loki first came to earth, Director Fury ordered me to go undercover as a mercenary and get a job in Loki’s army. Things didn’t exactly go as planned, and I had to blow my cover, which royally pissed of Loki. He threatened me with a number of painful punishments for my betrayal. That is why I am officially ‘dead’ to the world right now. So Loki will forget about his vendetta against me.”  
“But why does that matter now? Loki and his brother are back in Asgard, and no longer a threat. Your ruse is not necessary now.”  
“Thats what you think.”  
“Do you doubt it?”  
“If you think that Loki has just rolled over and given up, then you are sadly mistaken. He’ll be back, and when he comes, there will be no army, no amount of force, that will stop him from finally gaining his prize.”  
“And what would that prize be?”  
“Earth.” That statement was rewarded with complete silence. The members of The Council tried to mask their apprehension at her statement, but failed miserably. Silence reigned until one of The Council members decided it was time to change the subject.  
“Back to the other matter. How are you still alive?” Kate averted her gaze from the viewing screen and raised her hand to her chest unconsciously, feeling the small, metal circle beneath her shirt. A metal circle that was keeping her miraculously alive. A jumble of blurred memories and visions from the battle of almost a month ago played over and over again in her mind...   
The last thing she remembered was being held in Loki’s arms, then there was darkness. She woke up in a hospital bed, however many hours later, with a blue arch reactor, similar but smaller in size to the one Tony Stark possessed, embedded in her chest. Tony and Bruce stood over her bed, concerned expressions on their faces.  
“What happened?” Kate muttered as she tried to sit up, but Tony rested a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back against the pillows. “Did we win?”   
“You bet we did.” Tony stated as he gripped her hand reassuringly. Kate lifted her hand to touch the blue arch reactor in her chest curiously.  
“Whats this for?” She asked groggily. She felt as if she had gotten hit by a bus and then drowned in painkillers.  
“That,” Bruce motioned to the reactor, “is what’s keeping you alive.”  
“What?” Kate’s eyes widened in horror.  
“The reactor acts almost like an artificial heart.” Tony commented.  
“Yours was severely damaged when that Chituari attacked you. You should have died instantly, but we think that Loki may have used some sort of healing spell on you, albeit a weak one, that keep you just barely alive.” Banner added. “You were at Death’s door by the time we found you, but Tony had the idea of using a reactor to both kickstart your heart as well as keep it going.”  
“You mean I’m stuck with this thing for the rest of my life?” Kate’s voice was failing her and she could only manage to whisper.  
“It’s not as bad as all that, Kate.” Tony reached up and tapped a finger against his own chest piece. “Trust me.”  
“Loki.” Kate whispered. “He thinks I’m dead.”  
“Does he ever!” Tony rolled his eyes. “That asshole hasn’t said a word since we found him in my penthouse, what can only be described as ‘cradling’ you in his arms.”  
“He can’t find out I’m still alive.” She murmured fiercely. “I’ll never be free of him as long as he thinks I still live.”  
“Well thats your choice, Katie.” Tony gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “Can’t say I blame you for not wanting his attention.”  
“You should get some rest.” Bruce said softly. “Your body needs to recover.” Kate nodded slightly before relaxing against the pillow and drifting into a drug induced sleep, visions of a green eyed, black haired god filling her dreams...  
“Agent Poole... Agent Poole!” Kate snapped out of her reverie, focusing her attention once again on the members of the World Security Council. “Would you kindly answer the question.”  
“You wanna know how I’m still alive? I’ll tell you...” Kate paused trying to think of a way to explain what she’d gone through without seeming suspicious. “You know what, better yet, I’ll show you.” She pulled the zipper of her SHIELD uniform down a few inches to expose the arch reactor. The action was met with gasps from some Council members and stunned silence from others. “This...this thing,” she pointed to her chest, “is keeping me alive. I was shot in the chest by one of those creatures while trying to defend this planet.” Kate calmly zipped up her suit, effectively hiding the bright blue circle from site. “Still think I’m a traitor?” Kate looked at each of The Council members, daring them to doubt her. “I think we’re done here, don’t you?”   
“You are dismissed, Agent Poole.”   
“Thought so.” Kate muttered as she rose from her seat and made her way to the door, but was stopped by the voice of the head Council member.  
“Oh, and Agent Poole?”  
“Yes, sir?”   
“We’ll be keeping an eye on you.” He stated simply.  
“I’m sure you will.” Kate replied as she exited the room, the door sliding shut behind her. As she made her way slowly down the corridor towards her room, she thought back to Loki and Thor’s departure two days ago. She wasn’t sure how she had felt as she watched Loki, handcuffed and muzzled, being led to the departure spot in Central Park by Thor. She watched from a distance as the other Avengers had all circled around the brothers as they prepared to depart, and held her breath as Loki took one last look around the park. She willed him not to see her, but when his gaze landed on her, she was unable to move. It wasn’t until Loki’s penetrating gaze was forced from her by an impatient Thor, that Kate had the will to turn and disappear into the crowd. She turned to glance back one last time just as Thor and Loki had disappeared in a swirl of blue light. Kate had looked up at the sky and bid Loki a silent farewell, even though she knew, deep down in her very damaged heart, that she hadn't seen the last of the God of Mischief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is sadly over, but there will be a sequel coming out soon!


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